Comprehensive Resource Model

Domain IV · Body-oriented psychotherapy · Lisa Schwarz · 2015 · Pittsburgh, USA

What it is

Format

• No fixed phase sequence was found. The sources describe concurrent work, not stages. The book description says resourcing, processing and integration happen simultaneously. Corrigan & Hull cite CRM in support of resourcing within each session, as opposed to a separate stabilisation phase before…
• Session count and format: not found. No session number, length or frequency appears in the sources. Stated formats: individual work with children (from age 4), adolescents and adults, plus couples and groups.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Version followed: the model as set out in Schwarz, Corrigan, Hull & Raju, The Comprehensive Resource Model: Effective therapeutic techniques for the healing of complex trauma (Routledge, 1st ed., 2017/2018; 270 pp.). I worked from the publisher's table of contents and description, not the book text. I also used Corrigan & Hull's 2015 account in BJPsych Bulletin and the descriptions CRM trainers published in…
• What it is. The Comprehensive Resource Model (CRM) is an integrative, attachment-based trauma treatment model. It was developed by Lisa Schwarz, M.Ed., a Pennsylvania-licensed psychologist in Pittsburgh. She was senior US Brainspotting trainer from 2007 to 2014 and then worked only on CRM. Her co-authors are the Scottish psychiatrists Frank Corrigan, Alastair Hull and Rajiv Raju. The attribution to Schwarz is…
• Training. CRM is a registered, trainer-led model. Trainings are open to accredited mental-health professionals (in 2019, a four-day online level). Use CRM by that name only after training.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• a sudden numbness after the client has approached a memory.
• nature associated with trauma, such as an outdoor assault (choose differently).
• your own urge to rescue or rush. It is working when the client's breathing slows in your presence.
• cultural respect. The concept comes from indigenous traditions, so present it as an option, not a doctrine.
• the client leaving still activated (extend containment), and a "truth" that is intellectual rather than felt.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.